How long can a bee live without a head? -
05-19-2007, 19:59
| posts: 1,251 | Location: Michigan

I've been messing around with this bee for 3 hours now. It was decapitated before then. It still reacts to anything I do to it. It has no freaking head, yet it can still act like a living object.

I might have a zombie bee on my hands, except cutting off its head won't kill it. IT HAS HAD NO HEAD FOR THREE HOURS... It still crawls around and rubs its legs together. When I put it on a surface with water, it will crawl around for a while until it finds a dry area. If it stops moving and I touch it, the thing will crawl around a bit.

If you cut chickens head off, t still can fly... That bee looks like, that it cant fly anymore, how boring. How it reacts if you give some electric shocks? Be careful not to burn that.

Chickens don't fly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crucible

I've been messing around with this bee for 3 hours now. It was decapitated before then. It still reacts to anything I do to it. It has no freaking head, yet it can still act like a living object.

I might have a zombie bee on my hands, except cutting off its head won't kill it. IT HAS HAD NO HEAD FOR THREE HOURS... It still crawls around and rubs its legs together. When I put it on a surface with water, it will crawl around for a while until it finds a dry area. If it stops moving and I touch it, the thing will crawl around a bit.

Not that much of a mystery. I've seen plenty of beheaded cockroaches, and technically humans live on for ages without their heads. Heard of being "braindead"? Seriously... We only need our head for basic survival. Like breathing, and eating. Breathing can be maintained with a respirator, and feeding can be done through a tube into our stomachs. So, yes... Many of you have seen "headless" humans. Of course, cutting off a human's head would also lead to a massive bloodloss. Which would probably kill a person as well, but again.. theoretically it's possible.

Of course, neither of these points matter to a cockroach, or an insect in general. E.g. a cockroach breathe through their bodies, the brain doesn't control anything. I don't know if that's what your hornet is doing, but I bet it is. Insects don't have blood pressure and stuff like that, so no problem there. And finally, insects don't eat as often as we do, so they can go months without food and yet survive. Thus I conclude, your hornet might very well still be alive in a month. Just don't poke it too often, and keep it cool Clean it every once in a while to prevent infection

snapping turtles are also fun headless, there body will move around for at least 30 minutes after being beheaded. also watch your fingers as the head itself will still snap an react to anything near it, my grandfather showed me this twenty plus years ago while in the process of making turtle soup.(tastes like chicken.)

snapping turtles are also fun headless, there body will move around for at least 30 minutes after being beheaded. also watch your fingers as the head itself will still snap an react to anything near it, my grandfather showed me this twenty plus years ago while in the process of making turtle soup.(tastes like chicken.)

True, true. It's a known scientific fact that most humans live out their entire lives without brains (look around, you'll see many of them in the McDonald's). It has been rumoured that a highly advanced alien race has been removing their brains remotely using straw-sized mini wormholes and replacing it with spam (lovely spaaaaaam, wonderful spaaaam). Apparently, the human race has yet to notice.

Insects have clumps of ganglia—nerve tissue agglomerations—distributed within each body segment capable of performing the basic nervous functions responsible for reflexes, "so without the brain, the body can still function in terms of very simple reactions," Tipping says. "They could stand, react to touch and move."